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When a coach takes a new job in the NFL, he'll often bring with him a player or two that fits his system and can help translate it and the coach's ways to the rest of the roster.

Chip Kelly has done that by digging into the Oregon ranks.

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed quarterback Dennis Dixon to a two-year contract, the team announced Thursday, thus giving a player who was on the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad in 2012 another shot at an NFL roster while giving Kelly an experienced voice in the locker room.

"We are excited to bring in Dennis Dixon to compete at the quarterback position," said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. "Dennis is a veteran in this league that has been a part of two Super Bowl-winning teams in his career. He's also very familiar with Chip Kelly and how he operates."

Dixon's agent, Jeff Sperbeck, and the team had been negotiating since the Ravens' Super Bowl XLVII victory. This deal took a bit longer to complete than the average signing of a practice-squad player because there are undisclosed incentives in the deal. Dixon plays a premier position and therefore wanted to make sure he'll get rewarded should he get playing time with the Eagles this season.

Dixon, 28, played one season under Kelly while the former Ducks coach was the offensive coordinator in 2007.

Dixon threw for 2,136 yards, ran for 583 yards and had 29 total touchdowns (20 passing, nine rushing). He led the Ducks to a 7-1 start before injuring his ACL in a victory against Arizona State. He convinced the coaches to allow him to play the following week against Arizona, but his knee buckled and he was shut down for the season.

Dixon was limited in predraft workouts but was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dixon was the Steelers' opening-day starter in 2010 but tore the meniscus in his knee in Week 2 and landed on injured reserve. He signed on to Baltimore's practice squad last September.

Kelly has declared an open competition between Michael Vick and Nick Foles for the starting job and said he thinks the mobile Vick and Foles, a more traditional passer, can both run a similar system. Dixon can serve as a marriage of those two styles and, at 6-3, he's a bit longer than Vick (6-0), which means he can hold the fake on the read option a bit longer to keep defensive ends guessing. Those fakes mean tenths of a second, which Colin Kaepernick showed can be an eternity in the NFL.